Kuranosuke Shiraishi
Background Kuranosuke Shiraishi (白石蔵ノ介, Shiraishi Kuranosuke) is the Captain of Shitenhōji. He is heralded as having 'Perfect Tennis', and is referred to as 'The Bible of Shitenhōji'. His skills are so great that he was already playing at singles 1 when he was only in his second year, and his team that year gave the eventual repeat Champions Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku their toughest match of the entire tournament, when they met in the semi-finals. Though Shiraishi is the captain of Shitenhoji, many believed that the legendary Chitose Senri is stronger. However, between the two, Tezuka believed Shiraishi to be the one to be more frightened of. Coincidentally, while Shiraishi believes Fuji is No. 2 in Seigaku behind Tezuka, Chitose believes Fuji is scarier than Tezuka. Appearance Shiraishi has light brown hair that is medium lengthed and his eyes area greyish-brown. Under his bandages is a gold gauntlet it was revealed after Akaya Kirihara hit and ripped of his bandages in the U-17 Training Camp. When the gauntlet is removed the speed of left his arm speed sky-rockets. Personality He is first introduced when the representatives of every team that will compete at the National Tournament gathered. His personality and profile are shrouded in mystery, and very little detail is available on him as of the present. The biggest reason for this is that in the previous year, he had placed himself in the Singles 1 match against Rikkai Dai, and didn't get to play when Shitenhōji was swept. Though he's famous for having 'Perfect Tennis', Shiraishi himself believes that perfect tennis is silly. However when his team lost in the previous Nationals, Shiraishi realizes that no matter how you play, all that matters in the end is winning the match. As the captain of his team, he has to bring his team victory, even if he has to play using the skills he feels are boring. Shiraishi is often shown sporting white bandages on his arm. It is revealed that he wears a gold gauntlet that was given to him by Osamu underneath the bandages. Hes worn it since his freshmen year and has promised Osamu not to take it off till graduation but had to break that promise to keep the promise to Renji. Shiraishi is also known to be the only person who can placate or appease Kintarō Tōyama, the youngest and wildest member of their team. It is apparent in the manga that Kintarō has a very peculiar and strong imagination, and ever since he read a manga about monsters with poison claws, he's been irrationally and childishly (albeit seriously) afraid of Shiraishi who claims he has poisonous claws underneath his bondaged arms. As mentioend above, underneth is actually a gold gauntlet that when removed, the speed of left his arm increases greatly. He is known for saying Ahhh...Ecstasy. History Two Years Prior To The Storyline Shiraishi's tennis coach Osamu arrives and during this year and hands him a golden arm weight to wear and tells not to remove it until his graduation of Shitenhoji. It was during this time that Shiraishi was a first year along with Oshitari Kenya and others that Taira Yoshiyuki was the captain of the club. One Year Prior To The Storyline Shiraishi is made captain during his second year after winning the Kansai Region Tournament by former captain Hara Tetsuya. Shown in the 1st episode of the Prince of Tennis OVA: Another Story II ~The Times We Shared~, Shiraishi notices Zaizen Hikaru as the first year during the opening ceremony that did not laugh at the principal of Shitenhoji's joke. While the rest of the classmates in his year were dying of laughter, Zaizen just stood staring that principal. Shiraishi did not understand how Zaizen did not laugh at their principal's funny joke. The Shitenhoji tennis club members (everyone in the main series except for Kintaro, who had not entered middle school yet) are told that they must recruit at least one new member or else their club cannot participate in activities (in other words, they can't compete, practice, etc.). The members start panicking because they had zero new recruits this year. However, Osamu informs Shiraishi to recruit the only person who had not join a club: Zaizen Hikaru. Everyone tries to get Zaizen to join by making him laugh. All of the members fall, though, until the vice captain Koishikawa directly asks Zaizen directly to join the club. Zaizen agrees, much to everyone's surprise. When he arrives, Zaizen plays a doubles game against Shiraishi and Kenya, with Koishikawa. However, Zaizen dominates his side of the court, returning all of Shiraishi and Kenya's shots though he claimed he had only played tennis a few times. Zaizen tells Shiraishi that his "Bible Tennis" was actually "Textbook Tennis"- thus it was really predictable and that for Kenya there was no point in speed if he could not control his accuracy. This shocks everyone, but Shiraishi and Kenya do not get angry. Shiraishi hits an Entaku Shot against Zaizen and the match ends. At the end of the game, Shiraishi says his saying for the first time: Ahhh...Ecstasy. The whole team laughs at Shiraishi, but surprisingly, Zaizen laughs as well though he claims he did not when his teammates asked him if he had just laughed with them. Zaizen officially joins the tennis team the next day, where Osamu presents him with a gift. Through this experience, it was suggested that Shiraishi was critical of how his teammates played, though they never complained. At the end of the episode after Zaizen comments on his and Kenya's playing style, Shiraishi realized that his teammates were capable of growing without limits. Regionals Shiraishi captained the Shitenhoji team as they cruised through the Kansai Regional Tournament and defeated Makinofuji in the final. Nationals Shitenhōji defeated Okakura as 5-0 in the 2nd Round as shown in the databooks as this was their first match of the tournament as they were the Kansai Regional Tournament winners as the recieved a bye and did not have to participate in the 1st Round. Shiraishi was not needed to play in the Quarterfinals against Fudomine as the Shitenhouji won the encounter in straight sets which meant Shiraishi in Singles 1 did not have to play. Shiraishi engaged in a long even fought out match with Fuji Shusuke in Singles 3 of the Semi-finals of the Nationals. With Shiraishi completely dominating for 5 straight games then Fuji completely dominating for 6 games, the two of them then going evenly until the tie-break in which Shiraishi was lucky to get the win due to Fuji's lob being just centimeteres out of the court. Shiraishi and the rest of the Shitenhouji tennis club were part of the audience to the Nationals Final between Seigaku and Rikkai Dai and is shown accepting his 3rd place medal along with his teammates. Prior To U-17 Camp Shitenhouji preparing to train with Seigaku.png|Shitenhouji welcoming Seigaku to their training ground. Shiraishi, Fuji and Inui.png|Shiraishi touring Fuji and Inui through Osaka. Shown during the Another Story OVA, Shiraishi and the rest of the Shitehoji tennis club welcome Seigaku to their school for a joint training session between the two schools after the nationals while the Seigaku tennis club stay in Osaka. The camp idea was to have Seigake field a team without any 3rd Years against a full Shitenhouji team. Winning in this situation was of course an impossible task however Kaido and Momoshiro got completely worked up over the situation and eventually got into an argument causing them to postpone training. During the postponement time, the Shitenhouji players each took the seniors on tours through Osaka and at this time, Echizen Ryoma arrived making Momoshiro and Kaido feel they were saved. During the day Shiraishi and his teammates help Kaidoh and Momoshiro realize what it means to be a good captain and the training camp became a success. Afterwards, everyone gets involved in long rallies and has fun playing tennis. Sometime also before the U-17 Camp in the PairPuri Anime, captains Shiraishi, Tachibana, Atobe, and Tezuka meet up at the Seigaku tennis club to have the Seigaku team play against the Fudomine team, and to play against each other. Shiraishi did not bring his jersey, so he did not play but he brought Koharu along with him because he insisted to come (to see Kamio). Shiraishi watches the game between Atobe and Tezuka, where Koharu umpires and misunderstands Atobe and Tezuka's actions. Shiraishi comments on how Koharu was lost in a different situation in response to Koharu's misunderstandings. U-17 Camp Shiraishi along with his Shitenhoji team mates was invited to the Japan U-17 Camp like several other Middle Schoolers which was the first time middle schoolers were allowed in the camp. He then pairs up with Oshitari Kenya as they both believe they will be teaming up as a doubles pair, however the head coach of the camp suddenly announced all pairs are required to have a tie-break game against each other where the winner stays in the camp and the loser must leave the camp. Shiraish defeats Oshitari and gets to stay in the camp. Oshitari is then sent to train in the mountains with all the other middle schoolers that lost. In the anime, during Ryoma, Kenya, and Kei's special mission for Coach Nyudo, Shiraishi wakes up after Kei causes the alarm system to sound after running through the lasers. Shiraishi and Fuji are confused as to why the alarm was sounding, but they never find out that it was because of their fellow middle schoolers. Shiraishi defeats a high school opponent in a player shuffle and makes his way to Court 5. Upon reaching the 5th Court, Shiraishi is amongst the 7 members Oni selects to take on the 3rd Court in the Team Shuffle. Shiraishi plays in Doubles 2 with Kirihara Akaya against Miyako Shinobu and Matsudaira Chikahiko. Shirahishi and Kirihara stunned to see the 2wings lose.jpg|Shiraishi, Kirihara and Atobe stunned as Tachibana and Chitose narrowly lose to Washio and Suzuki. Ishida and Shiraishi in U-17 Camp uniform in the locker room.jpg Miyako and Matsudaira jump to an early lead due to Miyako's power and Matsudaira's speed making an effective partnership. During the match Miyako and Matsudaira taunt Kirihara to the point he gets extremely agitated and begins to lash out and enter Devil Mode. Shiraishi attempts to stop Kirihara from using his Devil Mode by putting his hand out however Kirihara mindlessly swings his racket forward accidentally hitting Shiraishi's arm. Shiraishi then reveals what was hidden beneath the bandages on his left arm was a Golden Arm weight called a Gauntlet. The weight was extremely heavy which Shiraishi had worn for 3 years. With the weight removed, the speed and power of his left arm dramatically lifted. Thanks to this, Shiraishi and Kirihara took control of the game and eventually Kirihara was able to use Devil Mode and play sanely in Angel Mode at the same time which led to them winning. After a dramatically long encounter, the 5th Court defeated the 3rd Court making Shiraishi currently a member of the 3rd Court. Shiraishi was later at the main courts with the rest of the players witnessing the return of the Losers. Some time after, Shiraishi is with Fuji Shusuke present at the courts upon the arrival of the 1st Stringers of the Camp from their Foreign Expedition. The two of them notice several middle schoolers are missing. They then welcome back the missing middle schoolers as it is revealed that they defeated and replaced the 1st Stringers from No.s 11-19. Shiraishi along with other middle schoolers puts forward a challenge for the other 1st Stringers. Tennis Record U-17 Camp Results Playing Styles and Techniques Shiraishi incorporates a style of tennis known as Perfect Tennis, which is a style that wastes no energy at all by producing no excess or unnecessary movement, achieving the best results with each shot with very little effort. This is due to Shiraishi mastering all the fundamentals and basics through hard work and gradually being able to shape his form to the point where he can perform strokes without mannerisms or habitual actions that can lessen the use of stamina, which has a great effect in his concentration, movements, stamina, and etc. He is one of the most balanced players and his stats are 3.5 in Speed, 3.5 in Technique, 3.5 in Power, 3.5 in Mentality and 3.5 in Stamina. Entaku Shot : Bible tennis.jpg Bible tennis1.jpg|The enormous amount of sidespin. Bible tennis2.jpg Bible tennis3.jpg|The spin rapidly increases. Bible tennis5.jpg|Zaizen finding it difficult to react to the immense spin of the shot. Bible tennis8.jpg The shot that inspired Kevin Smith's Illusion in the anime.Shiraishi hits a sidespin shot with the frame of the racket that causes the ball to fly in a ring formation until it hits the course without bouncing. Although in the manga the move was first shown in the Nationals, in the Nationals OVA Shiraishi uses the same stance for this move and performs it in his game against Fuji however the scene simply skips to Shiraishi gaining the point. But it was finally shown in Another Story 2 - ~The Times We Shared~ OVA. Perfect Tennis Perfect Tennis is a style that wastes no energy at all by producing no excess or unnecessary movement, achieving the best results with each shot with very little effort. This is due to Shiraishi mastering all the fundamentals and basics through hard work and gradually being able to shape his form to the point where he can perform strokes without mannerisms or habitual actions that can lessen the use of stamina, which has a great effect in his concentration, movements, stamina, and etc. Tennis is a skilled playstyle used by Shiraishi. Similar to the counter of Fuji's instead of using named moves that are special against an attack, Shiraishi used a variety of skilled shots to counter a move. In the game with Fuji, Shiraishi countered every attack before it evolved and was given credit to that of his skills. Due to his skilled variety of physical and technique being dominance, he able to combine his I.Q to tennis shots and make a counter towards even very hard moves. Even new moves such as Hecatoncheires No Monban was countered by Shiraishi as he knew how to add the reverse spin with a huge topspin, later winning the match. Golden Gauntlet Two years ago, his coach, Osamu Watanabe, gave Shiraishi a golden gauntlet for him to wear on his left arm and "instructed" (in other words, lightly suggested) Shiraishi to wear it until his graduation. To avoid attention, Shiraishi hid the golden gauntlet with bandages (and gave Kintaro the impression that under his bandages contained lethal poison). Since gold is 3 times heavier than lead and iron, and since Shiraishi can play normally even with the golden gauntlet on, when he takes the gauntlet off, his swing speed skyrockets compared to his normal strokes. However, only the speed of his arm increases. Trivia *Father’s Occupation: pharmacist *At episode 20 in the OVA, his bible skills are also been acknowledged by the commentators, Kikumaru Eiji and Oshitari Yūshi, when Oshitari saw Shiraishi replacing the eaten yakiniku by the uncooked ones in an instant. *In Prince of Tennis Another Story, Shiraishi stated that their school gate is hard to get into. Since he suddenly jumped from behind Seigaku and said his favorite saying Ahhh...Ecstasy., making him hit his face at the top of the gate. *In the New Prince of Tennis Manga, Shiraishi had a golden gauntlet hidden in bandages. But in the anime in Prince of Tennis after beating Fuji, there is a part where one fifth of the arm is shown to have no gauntlet on. *In The Prince of Tennis Musical, Shiraishi is portrayed by actors Harukawa Kyōsuke and by Yoshihide Sasaki. *He does not perform badly in any subject at school, and does particularly well in Chemistry. *Height: 178cm *Weight: 66kg *Favorite Brands: Shoes - DIADORA (Speed Zone PRO); Racket - MIZUNO (Wenew 900Ti *Blood Type: Type B *Hobbies: Chess, health exercises *Favorite Colors: Bright green *Favorite Foods: Cheese risotto *Favorite Movies: Korean movies *Favorite Book: Botanical books *Favorite Music: Trance *Favorite Type: One whose hair has the scent of shampoo *Favorite Date Spot: botanical garden *Things he doesn’t like: Girls who go out to hit on guys *Skills outside of Tennis: Identifying poisonous Plants Gallery Category:Characters Category:Tennis Player Category:Shitenhoji Tennis Club Member Category:Middle Schooler Category:3rd Year Middle School Category:U-17 Camp Category:Left-Handed Category:All-Rounder Category:Middle School Captain Category:Kansai Players Category:Osaka Players Category:Has an episode named after them Category:Capable with Singles and Doubles